All photography by Suzi Pratt except Porcelain Raft, The Lumineers by Jim Bennett When the 2012 Capitol Hill Block Party website became public, many speculated that this would be the LAST Capitol Hill Block Party ever. A cryptic and mysterious message led followers and fans to believe that the end of was near. It’s no...Read...

Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party is upon us again for 2012, bringing some major acts from beyond and local Pacific Northwest acts into the same sweaty and crowded outdoors spaces! See below for the full daily run-down of what you ought to look out for. WRITE-UPS BY KATIE NGUYEN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED FRIDAY, JULY...Read...

Like all good metal bands, the members of Agalloch know how to create atmosphere. Generally, when Band (A) comes Venue (B), A obviously plays in B. But when Agalloch came to The Crocodile in support of their new EP Faustian Echoes, Agalloch turned The Crocodile into an Agalloch environment. Their setup took quite a bit...Read...

This post is long overdue, but it is a recap of our SXSW 2012 party, which you can read more about HERE. REDEFINE’s second annual SXSW party was once again thrown with Gina Altamura of Portland nightclub Holocene and Marjorie Owens of Dallas blog Clumsy N Shy, who collaborated on an evening of acts that...Read...

For the past six years, I’ve had the pleasure of repeating, “This Russian Circles album is their best yet,” four different times. Rarely does a band seem to be on such a trajectory for greatness and going after it slowly but surely as Russian Circles. But every couple of years, they blow their last release...Read...

Whereas Seattle still seems to be lagging well behind places like the Bay Area and Portland as far as potent psych rock goes, it has long been a haven for underground knob twiddlers of the more adventurous variety. Years back, there was a regular, mainly noise-themed night at the Baltic Room called No Tomorrow, that...Read...

When others introduced Geist & The Sacred Ensemble to me as “weird folk-psych,” I knew immediately that I would find in them a welcome change from more common interpretations of modern psychedelic music. To my surprise, though, what I soon found within the gritty confines of Seattle’s Black Lodge was a cinematic musical achievement, from...Read...

The short West coast tour pairing of Narrows and Retox answered the question, “What happens when supergroups and side-projects collide?” Can each individual entity within the group find content in wearing his new skin? Or will he shed it like a bloody husk once the tour is over to pursue past glories instead? As Narrows...Read...